Heard in Iran This Week
on Radio Farda
(Washington, DC -- November 9, 2006) This past week, Radio Farda provided its listeners with extensive coverage of the U.S. midterm elections, including a pre-election package of stories addressing the following issues:
>> An Overview of the U.S. Midterm Elections
Radio Farda on October 31 gave an overview of the significance of U.S. midterm elections, focusing on shifting the balance of power in Washington (https://audio.rferl.org/ch21/2006/10/31/20061031-193000-FRD-program.mp3?start=02:16&end=10:29)
>> Potential Impact on Iran
On November 6, Radio Farda aired three interviews assessing the impact of the midterm elections on U.S.-Iran relations. Mohammad Reza Jalili, a professor of international politics at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva told Radio Farda that the election would not result in any major changes in U.S. policy towards Iran. Sadegh Zibakalam, a professor of politics at Tehran University said that a change of political power in the U.S. would not reduce the tension between the U.S. and Iran, which is based on the nuclear standoff. Pirouz Mojtahedzadeh, a professor of geopolitics at Tehran's Tarbiat Modaress University told Radio Farda that the midterm elections would have no immediate impact on U.S. policy towards Iran (https://audio.rferl.org/ch21/2006/11/06/20061106-153000-FRD-program.mp3?start=07:04&end=11:42).
>> Role of the Iraq War
On November 1, Radio Farda broadcast a report about the role of Iraq war in the midterm elections (https://audio.rferl.org/ch21/2006/11/01/20061101-193000-FRD-program.mp3?start=04:49&end=13:40).
>> Active role of minority communities in politics
Radio Farda on November 2 broadcast a report on the significance of midterm elections for the two largest minority groups in the U.S. -- African Americans and Hispanics -- and how these two groups could affect the upcoming elections (https://audio.rferl.org/ch21/2006/11/02/20061102-193000-FRD-program.mp3?start=03:07&end=13:29).
>> Immigrants in Alabama
Radio Farda on November 3 had a report on illegal immigration as one of the hot political issues of midterm elections, focusing on Alabama, where the number of Hispanic immigrants has risen sharply and many immigrants live illegally. Radio Farda described for listeners the policies of Republicans and Democrats concerning this issue (https://audio.rferl.org/ch21/2006/11/03/20061103-193000-FRD-program.mp3?start=04:23&end=10:36).
>> Muslims and the Midterm Elections
Radio Farda reported on a recent poll, carried out by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which shows that Muslims living in the U.S. are very concerned about the war on terrorism and its impact on American Muslims, but education and civil liberties to be the most important issues for them in determining how they will vote (https://audio.rferl.org/ch21/2006/10/25/20061025-183000-FRD-program.mp3?start=09:57&end=14:20).
Radio Farda also broadcast a report on November 4 about American Muslims' efforts to have an impact on the U.S. midterm elections. In this report, Radio Farda listeners heard about the Muslim American Society's "Voting is Power" campaign to encourage American Muslims to participate more actively in U.S. politics (https://audio.rferl.org/ch21/2006/11/04/20061104-193000-FRD-program.mp3?start=01:15&end=08:42).
>> The Midterm Elections and Iranian Americans
Radio Farda aired an interview on November 5 with Kurosh (Cyrus) Homayounpour, who stood as a Democratic candidate in 2000 for the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland, about the role of Iranian Americans in the U.S. midterm elections. He said it seems that, in recent years, Iranian Americans have come to realize that they should participate in elections in the U.S and predicted that, ten years from now, Iranian Americans will be nominating their own candidates throughout the U.S. and financially supporting them (https://audio.rferl.org/ch21/2006/11/05/20061105-153000-FRD-program.mp3?start=14:31&end=18:45).
On Election Day, November 7, Radio Farda compared Homayounpour's views with those of U.S. Republican Party activist Goli Ameri. Ameri told Radio Farda listeners that she agreed with Homayounpour about the importance and potential impact of Iranian Americans participating in U.S. politics (https://audio.rferl.org/ch21/2006/11/07/20061107-043000-FRD-program.mp3?start=03:11&end=14:34).
Also on November 7, Radio Farda interviewed two other Iranian Americans about the significance of Iranian American participation in the U.S. midterm elections. Reza Goharzad, a Democratic activist in Los Angeles told Radio Farda listeners that it is important to vote for those who consider the best interest of Iranian Americans. Radio Farda also interviewed Shayan Samii, the chairman of the Iranian American Republican Council about the significance of Iranian American participation in the political process in the U.S. (https://audio.rferl.org/ch21/2006/11/07/20061107-143000-FRD-program.mp3?start=03:13&end=10:15).
For more on these and other stories about Iran, please visit:
http://www.radiofarda.com -- Radio Farda's Persian-language website
http://www.rferl.org/reviews/farda.aspx -- "Focus on Farda" bi-weekly review
http://www.rferl.org/reports/iran-report/default.asp -- "RFE/RL Iran Report" weekly analysis
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarchive/country/iran.html -- RFE/RL English-language coverage of Iran
Radio Farda, a joint project of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and
Voice of America (VOA), is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week service.
Produced in Washington, D.C. and Prague, Czech Republic and
transmitted to listeners via AM, shortwave and satellite,
Radio Farda features fresh news and information at least twice an hour,
with longer news programming in the morning and the evening.
Radio Farda also broadcasts popular Persian and Western music.
Radio Farda programming is also available via the Internet,
at the service's website http://www.radiofarda.com
and at http://www.rferl.org